A Stone Is a Story
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A National Science Teaching Association Outstanding Science Trade Book
Follow a stone’s journey through time as it faces ice, water, wind, and scorching heat in this beautiful nonfiction picture book that is Seeds Move! meets A Stone Sat Still.
“Where do rocks come from?”
The answer may be more incredible than you think! After all, a stone is not just a stone: a stone is a story. Embark on a journey across time to see how one stone can change and transform, from magma under Earth’s crust to the sand swept up by a rushing river to the very heart of the tallest mountain. Watch what happens when rain, ice, and wind mold this rock into something new, something you might even hold in your hand—something full of endless possibility.
Complete with additional information about geology and the rock cycle, this lyrical and captivating story invites readers to experience the wonder of the natural world around us, and to see—in every cliff, pebble, and stone—a window into Earth’s deep past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Despite their static appearance, stones move, change, and tell stories, debut author Barnard Booth details in a picture book that considers its subject in narrative terms. Considering a rock picked up by a brown-skinned child at water's edge, lines describe it as "not/ just a stone" but an entity that has experienced history on a geological and historical scale. In the lifetime of a stone, action-oriented text suggests, there's dynamism ("A stone has been lava, gushing"), destruction ("A stone has been wrenched apart by roots"), travel ("dragged by a glacier"), and transformation ("squeezed and scorched"). Working in watercolor wash whose bleeding and staining echo natural processes, Martin (Every Child a Song) paints scenes of a young planet and its natural life, lighting spreads with volcanic fire and primeval sunsets. Providing signposts about Earth's change from the beginning of time to the present day, Booth's study gives energy and intrigue to objects that seem deceptively quiet and ordinary—bringing history home via one stone held in a contemporary child's hand, then skipped on the water. Back matter includes a description of rock types. Ages 4–8. Author's agent: Claire Draper, Bent Agency. Illustrator's agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Productions.